Searching
by readingcats
Summary: Sunday tag. Don't read if you haven't seen the episode.Sheppard searches for Rodney in the aftermath of Sunday.


A.N. I found myself actually liking Sunday. Not the outcome, but it was well done. Anyway, this is my first fanfiction. Ever. You are free to tell me if I should stop writing. Oh, and there are spoilers for Sunday. If you read this and the episode gets spoiled, it's not my problem; I warned you.

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John Sheppard was a man on a mission. He was looking for a certain astrophysicist. One who of late had been very reclusive. It seemed to John that as soon as they had returned from Earth McKay had simply disappeared.

So here he was, searching nearly everywhere for him. He had checked nearly everywhere already. Well, not really. There were vast sections of Atlantis that he probably didn't know about and wasn't going to check. He wasn't checking recently found sections, either.

Sections like the one found earlier in the week; where two scientists catalogued an ancient device that emitted radiation.

Shaking the thought from his head, John continued on his search. He contemplated searching the infirmary, but he didn't want to go there. He doubted Rodney would want to either.

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"Elizabeth, have you seen Rodney anywhere?" asked John after entering her office.

"No, I haven't seen him since he got back from Earth. Why?" she replied.

"Yeah, I haven't seen him either, and apparently neither has anybody else." John sighed and looked at the gate below. There was a silence for a few minutes, and then Elizabeth spoke again.

"Have you checked the infirmary?"

"No," replied John, "I figured he wouldn't want to go in there."

"You never know." She said, "Back when Dr. Fraiser died, they couldn't find Dr. Jackson either. They eventually found him in the infirmary."

"Okay, as strange as it sounds I'll check there."

"John?" he turned at Elizabeth's voice. "When you do find him, let me know how he is."

"Right"

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As John looked in the infirmary, a voice spoke up from one of the nearby beds.

"What are you doing here, John?" Sheppard looked to see that Teyla had sat up in her bed.

"Looking for Rodney." He said.

"He is not here now." She said, "Why do you need to find him?"

"Nobody has seen him since we came back and, well…" He stumbled to find the words.

True to her being, Teyla merely nodded in understanding, effectively saving John from his floundering. "He was here right after you got back. I do not know where he is now." Teyla informed John.

"Well then, I'll leave you to your rest. Maybe Ronon's seen him." John mumbled to himself as he left the decidedly empty Atlantis infirmary.

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John finally found Ronon fighting with one of the marines.

He watched for a few minutes, then turned around and left them to their fight.

He walked out to a balcony. He felt the need to just think. While looking out, though, he did see a tiny figure standing on the edge of the pier. In his mind he decided it must be Rodney, as nobody else was nowhere to be found.

John keyed his com. "Elizabeth, I found Rodney."

"How is he?" she responded.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? Aren't you with him?" Elizabeth asked, confused.

"No, I just know where he is. Look, I'm on a balcony, and I can see…him…" John paused, looking out at the end of the pier.

"What, John? You see him what?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Nothing, Elizabeth. He's walking back towards Atlantis now."

"Okay, I leave you to it, then"

"Right" John responded. He then looked back out at the pier. He could've sworn he saw two people for a second there.

"I'm going crazy" he thought. "I need to check on Rodney." He said to himself.

"_Don't worry, lad, he's going to be just fine."_ John turned around, looking for the source of the voice.

"Carson?" questioned John.

"_Aye lad. Don't worry, it will all be alright."_

"No it won't, you know it won't"

"_Not right away, but it will be. I know it will. This is what happens on Atlantis. We all knew it coming in."_

"That doesn't make it any easier for us."

"_No, no it doesn't."_ There was a pause, and then the voice returned. _"Take care of each other, lad."_

"We will. We always do."

"_Aye, I know. Goodbye, Colonel Sheppard."_

"Goodbye Carson." Whispered John before turning back to look at the sun setting over the ocean.


End file.
